My second real job (W-2 job, that is) was washing dishes at a local restaurant. This was a job that was mostly high school guys; we had one guy in the local junior college, but otherwise we were all under 18. Until one day, they hired Tom. Tom was in his early 40's, I think. He wore open collar shirts showing off his Burt Reynolds chest rug and a gold chain, he was friendly enough but it was pretty easy to tell, even as callow youths, that he was pretty much a compulsive liar. But he was good company and had a ton of good stories. Tom had lived way more than any of us small town kids could dream of back then.
One night, Mike, another dishwasher, need a ride home, so Tom gave him a lift. Mike noticed that Tom's necklace was actually an inverted star, and since this was the mid '80's, we all knew this meant he was into Motley Crue. Well, actually, The Satanic Bible was a pretty popular read in high school back then. So Mike saw what was up and asked Tom about it, and sure enough, Tom was a bonafide Satanist. As far as I know, Tom's the only satanist I've ever met. But following that, some interesting things came out, the most notable being Tom's admission that he was dating a 14 year old.
Now, in case you haven't been following closely, this is a big deal. We're talking roughly a 30 year age gap here. And considering that as 17 and 18 year olds, dating a 14 year old was definitely walking on the naughty side for us, let alone Tom. So we'd give him a hard time, and Tom would take it in stride and just tell us "age is just a number, boys".
I left that job when I graduated, but ran into one of the dishwashers a few months later. Tom disappeared one day, never to return. A few weeks following that, a woman showed up with her teenage daughter. Her very pregnant teenage daughter. They asked for Tom, the manager took a look and asked "Is this Tom's...?", indicating the girl's belly. The pair nodded.
I sometimes wonder whatever happened to that girl, and what Tom's doing these days.